CHAPTER XIII
The millionaire did things handsomely. He offered to motor his partyto Venice, and as Margaret declined, because motoring was bad for hervoice, he telegraphed for a comfortable special carriage, and took hisfriends down by railway, managing everything alone, in someunaccountable way, since the invaluable Stemp was already gone insearch of something for Mrs. Rushmore to eat; and they were all veryluxuriously comfortable.
Kralinsky was not on board the yacht when they came alongside atsunset in two gondolas, following the steam-launch, which carried aload of luggage and the two maids. The Primadonna's trunks andhat-boxes towered above Mrs. Rushmore's, and Mrs. Rushmore's aboveLady Maud's modest belongings, as the Alps lift their heads above thelower mountains, and the mountains look down upon the Italianfoot-hills; and Potts sat in one corner of the stern-sheets withMargaret's jewel-case on her knee, and Justine, with Mrs. Rushmore's,glared at her viciously from the other corner. For the fierce Justineknew that she was going to be sea-sick on the yacht, and the meekPotts never was, though she had crossed the ocean with the Diva inrough weather.
Stemp led the way, and Mr. Van Torp took the three ladies to theircabins: first, Mrs. Rushmore, who was surprised and delighted by therich and gay appearance of hers, for it was entirely decorated in pinkand gold, that combination being Stemp's favourite one. The brassbedstead had pink silk curtains held back by broad gold ribbands;there was a pink silk coverlet with a gold fringe; everything thatcould be gold was gilt, and everything that could be pink was rosy,including the carpet.
Mr. Van Torp looked at Stemp with approval, and Stemp acknowledgedunspoken praise with silent modesty.
'Beg pardon, madam,' he said, addressing Mrs. Rushmore, 'this is notexactly the largest cabin on the yacht, but it is the one in which youwill find the least motion.'
'It's very sweet,' said the American lady. 'Very dainty, I'm sure.'
On the writing-table stood a tall gilt vase full of immense pinkroses, with stems nearer four feet long than three. Mrs. Rushmoreadmired them very much.
'How did you know that I love roses above all other flowers?' sheasked. 'My dear Mr. Van Torp, you are a wizard, I'm sure!'
Lady Maud and Margaret had entered, and kept up a polite little chorusof admiration; but they both felt uneasy as to what they might find intheir respective cabins, for Margaret hated pink, and Lady Mauddetested gilding, and neither of them was especially fond of roses.They left Mrs. Rushmore very happy in her quarters and went on. LadyMaud's turn came next, and she began to understand, when she saw aquantity of sweet wood violets on her table, just loosened, in an oldMurano glass beaker.
'Thank you,' she said, bending to smell them. 'How kind of you!'
There was not a trace of gilding or pink silk. The cabin was panelledand fitted in a rare natural wood of a creamy-white tint.
'Beg pardon, my lady,' said Stemp. 'This and Miss Donne's cabincommunicate by this door, and the door aft goes to the dressing-room.Each cabin has one quite independent, and this bell rings the pantry,my lady, and this one rings Miss Donne's maid's cabin, as I understandthat your ladyship has not brought her own maid with her.'
'Very nice,' said Lady Maud, smelling the violets again.
Mr. Van Torp looked at Stemp as he would have looked at a horse thathad turned out even better than he had expected. Stemp threw open thedoor of communication to the cabin he had prepared for the Primadonna.The two cabins occupied the whole beam of the vessel, excepting thesix-foot gangway on each side, and as she was one of the largestyachts afloat at the time, there was no lack of room.
'Carnations, at this time of year!' cried Margaret, seeing half anarmful of her favourite dark red ones, in a silver wine-cooler beforethe mirror. 'You really seem to know everything! Thank you so much!'
She buried her handsome face in the splendid flowers and drew in adeep, warm breath, full of their sensuous perfume, the spicy scent ofa laden clove-tree under a tropical sun.
'Thank you again!' she said enthusiastically. 'Thank you foreverything, the delightful journey, and this lovely room, and thecarnations!'
She stood up suddenly to her height, in sheer pleasure, and held outher hand to him. He pressed it quietly, and smiled.
'Do as you would be done by,' he said. 'That's the Company's rule.'
She laughed at the allusion to their agreement, of which Lady Maudknew nothing, for they had determined to keep it secret for thepresent.
Mr. Van Torp had not found an opportunity of speaking to Lady Maudalone, but he wished her to know when Kralinsky might be expected.
'Stemp,' he said, before leaving the cabin, 'have you heard from theCount?'
'Yes, sir. He got here this morning from Vienna in his motor, sir, andsent his things with his man, and his compliments to you and theladies, and he will come on board in time for dinner. That was all, Ithink, sir.'
"She buried her handsome face in the splendid flowers."]
Lady Maud heard, and made a scarcely perceptible movement of the headby way of thanks to her friend, while listening to Margaret'senthusiastic praise of everything she saw. Mr. Van Torp and his mandeparted, just as Potts appeared, accompanied by a very neat-lookingEnglish stewardess in a smart white cap. Lady Maud was unusuallysilent, but she smiled pleasantly at what Margaret said, and thelatter made up her mind to drown her anger against Logotheti, and atthe same time to be avenged on him, in an orgy of luxurious comfort,sea-air, and sunshine. The capacity of a perfectly healthy andsuccessful singer for enjoying everything, from a halfpenny bun and adrive in a hansom to a millionaire's yacht and the most expensive fatof the land, or sea, has never been measured. And if they do haveterrible fits of temper now and then, who shall blame them? They arealways sorry for it, because it is bad for the voice.
Mr. Van Torp reached his quarters, and prepared to scrub and dresscomfortably after a week at Bayreuth and a railway journey.
'Stemp.'
'Yes, sir.'
'That was quite nicely done. You must have had a lively time.'
'Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hope everything is tolerably satisfactoryto you, sir.'
'Yes. Find anything good to eat? Chickens don't take gilding well, youknow--doesn't taste together. But I suppose you found something. Seenthe cook?'
'Yes, sir. I think things will be tolerable, sir, though this is notLondon, I must say.'
Mr. Van Torp showed no surprise at the statement, and disappeared intohis bath-room, well pleased with himself and his man. But a momentlater he opened the door again and thrust out his square sandy head.
'Stemp, where have you put the Count? Far from here? I don't want himnear me.'
'Last cabin forward on the port side, sir, next to the smoking-room.Very good cabin, sir.'
'Whereabouts is port, right or left?'
'Left-hand side of the vessel, sir,' answered Stemp, who had been onmany yachts. 'There are ten more cabins empty, sir, between large andsmall, if you should think of asking any ladies and gentlemen to joinat another point, sir.'
'May pick up a couple somewhere. Can't tell yet.' And Mr. Van Torpdisappeared definitely.
Lady Maud did not begin to dress at once, as there was plenty of timebefore dinner; she left the stewardess to unpack her things, and cameout upon the six-foot gangway outside her cabin door to breathe theair, for it was warm. The city lay half a mile away in the after-glowof the sunset. The water was very green that evening, as it sometimesis in the Lagoons, though not always, and it was shaded off throughmany opalescent tints to heliotrope; then it was suddenly black belowthe steps of the Piazzetta and the Ducal Palace. Within the mysteriouscanal to the right she could make out the Bridge of Sighs, and therewas the Ponte della Paglia, and the long line of irregular buildingsto the eastward of the Prisons, as far as the Public Gardens. To theleft there was the wide mouth of the Grand Canal, the Salute and theCustom-House, and the broad opening of the Giudecca. It was familiarto her, for she had seen it several times. She missed the Campanile,which she had been made to c
limb by an energetic governess when shewas twelve years old, but all the rest was there and unchanged, adream of evening colour, an Eastern city rising out of an enchantedwater, under an Italian sky.
At any other time she would have enjoyed the sight almost without athought, as she enjoyed everything that seemed to her beautiful oreven pretty, though she had no pretensions to cultivated artistictaste or knowledge. But now she felt none of that healthy pleasurewhich a lovely sight naturally gave her. She was at a crisis of herlife, and the exquisite evening scene was the battlefield of a comingstruggle, with herself, or with another, she hardly knew. In half anhour, or in an hour, at most, she was to sit at table with a man shefully believed to be the husband for whom she had been wearingmourning, out of mere decency, but with the profound inwardsatisfaction of being free.
She was brave, and could try to think of what was before her if itturned out that she was not mistaken, and she could attempt tounderstand what had happened. She had already come to the conclusionthat if Kralinsky was really Leven, the latter had seized theopportunity offered him by his own supposed death to disappear fromSt. Petersburg, and had taken another name. Leven had been a ruinedman when he had tried to divorce her; when he died, or disappeared, heleft nothing but debts, which were extinguished with him, for no oneattempted to make his widow responsible for them, since there was noestate and she had no fortune beyond the allowance her father madeher. Lord Creedmore was far from being a rich peer, too, and what hegave her was not much, although it would more than suffice for hersimple wants, now that she intended to live with him again.
But if Leven had not been killed and had turned into Kralinsky, he nowhad plenty of ready money, though it was not easy to guess how he hadobtained possession of a quantity of valuable Asiatic rubies withinthe few weeks that had elapsed between his supposed destruction by thebomb and the date of Van Torp's transaction with him in New York. Thatwas a mystery. So was his possible acquaintance, or connexion, withthe Eastern girl who was looking for him, if there was a shadow oftruth in Logotheti's story. Lady Maud did not believe there was, andshe felt morally sure that the tale had evolved itself out of theGreek's fertile brain, as a fantastic explanation of his atrociousconduct.
While she was thinking over these matters and rehearsing in herthoughts the scene that was before her, she saw a gondola makingstraight for the yacht across the fast fading green of the lagoon thatlay between the vessel and the Piazzetta. It came nearer, and she drewback from the rail against her cabin door, under the shadow of thepromenade deck, which extended over the gangway and was supported bystanchions, as on an ocean liner. The _Lancashire Lass_, with hersingle huge yellow funnel, her one short signal mast, herturret-shaped wheel-house, and her generally business-like appearance,looked more like a cross between a fast modern cruiser and an ocean'greyhound' than like a private yacht. She even had a couple ofquick-firing guns mounted just above her rail.
Lady Maud looked at the gondola, and as it came still nearer, she sawthat it brought only one passenger, and that he had a fair beard. Shequietly opened her cabin door, and went in to dress for dinner.
Meanwhile Mr. Van Torp had completed his toilet, and was rathersurprised to find himself magnificently arrayed in a dark-bluedinner-jacket, with perfectly new gilt buttons, and an unfamiliarfeeling about the pockets. He had belonged to a yacht club for years,because it seemed to be expected of him, and Stemp and the tailor hadthought fit that he should possess the proper things for a yachtsman.
'Stemp,' he said, 'is this the correct thing? I suppose you know.'
'Yes, sir. Very smart indeed, sir. White caps are usually worn byyachting gentlemen in the Mediterranean, sir.' Stemp offered him thecap in question, resplendent with a new enamelled badge. 'Beg pardon,sir, but as to caps, most gentlemen lift them to ladies, just likehats, sir, but the captain and the officers touch theirs. His Gracealways lifted his cap, sir.'
'I guess that'll be all right,' answered Mr. Van Torp, trying on thecap. 'Send the captain to my study, Stemp, and find out about when theladies will be ready for dinner.'
Stemp disappeared, and in a few moments pink-faced Captain Brownappeared, quiet, round, and smart.
'I suppose you're ready at any moment, Captain?' inquired themillionaire.
'Yes, sir. The pilot is on board, and the gentleman you expected isjust coming alongside.'
'Oh, he is, is he?'
Mr. Van Torp evidently expected no answer to his favourite form ofquestion when he was thinking over what had just been said; and thecaptain was silent.
'Then you can start now,' said the owner, after a moment's thought.
'Where are we bound, sir?'
'Oh, well, I don't know. I wanted to say a few words about that,Captain. Do you happen to know anything about a yacht called the_Erinna_, belonging to a Mr. Logotheti, a Greek gentleman who lives inParis?'
'Yes, sir,' answered Captain Brown, for it was a part of his businessto read the yachting news. 'She was at Cowes when we sailed. She wasreported the other day from Gibraltar as having entered theMediterranean after taking fresh provisions, owner and party on board.There is no further word of her.'
'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp, 'I have an idea she's gone to Naples, but Iwant you to find her right away wherever she is, owner and party onboard. That's all, Captain. If you happen to see her anywhere, youjust come and tell me if I'm alone, and if I'm not, why send one ofyour young men to say you want to know something,--anything you happento think of, and I'll come to your room and tell you what to do. See?That's all, and now let's start, please.'
'All right, sir.'
So Captain Brown went off with his instructions, and in a few momentshis owner heard the distant sound of the chain coming in over the mostnoiseless of modern patent steam capstans; and the side-lights andmasthead and stern lights shone out as the anchor light went down, andthe twin screws began to turn over slowly, well below the water; andthe _Lancashire Lass_ was under weigh, with the captain, the pilot,and the two junior officers all in a row on the bridge, while thechief mate was seeing the anchor got inboard and stowed. But while thecaptain was silently looking ahead into the warm dusk and listening tothe orders the pilot gave for the wheel in good English, but with amarvellous Venetian accent, he was also considering how he might mostquickly find the _Erinna_, and he reflected that it would be an easiertask if he knew a little more definitely where she was. He was not atall disturbed by the orders he had received, however, and was onlyanxious to get all the speed he could out of his vessel as far as theStraits of Messina, through which the yacht he was to find wouldalmost certainly pass, in preference to the Malta Channel, if she weregoing to Greece and the East. If she kept to the waters west of Italy,it would not be so very hard to hear of her, as the coast is dottedwith excellent marine signal stations, and official information as tothe movements of yachts is easily obtained.
When the party assembled in the deck saloon for dinner, Lady Maud wasmissing. Stemp, who did not intend that his master should dinewithout his personal attention, no matter how much the chief stewardmight object to his presence, approached Mr. Van Torp and whisperedsomething. Lady Maud begged that the party would sit down without her,and she would join them in a moment.
So they took their places, and the vacant one was on the owner'sright, between him and the Primadonna.
'You see,' said Mr. Van Torp, explaining to Mrs. Rushmore, which waswholly unnecessary, 'we are Americans, and this ship is America, sothe English guest goes first.'
But Mrs. Rushmore knew these things, for she was used to handlinglions in numbers; and the little lions and the middle-sized ones arevery particular about their places at table, but the great big ones donot care 'one dingle Sam,' as Mr. Van Torp would have elegantlyexpressed their indifference. For he was a great big lion himself.
'Did you ever meet Lady Maud?' he inquired, speaking to Kralinsky.
'Which Lady Maud?' asked the foreigner in his rather oily voice.'There are several.'
'Countess Leven, who wa
s Lady Maud Foxwell,' explained Mrs. Rushmore.
Kralinsky turned quietly to her, his single eyeglass fixed andglittering.
'No,' he answered. 'I knew poor Leven well, but I was never introducedto his wife. I have heard that she is very beautiful.'
'You say you knew the late Count Leven?' observed Mrs. Rushmore, withan encouraging and interrogatory smile.
'Intimately,' answered Kralinsky with perfect self-possession. 'Wewere in the same regiment in the Caucasus. I daresay you remember thathe began life as a cavalry officer and then entered the diplomacy.Gifted man, very,' the Russian added in a thoughtful tone, 'but nobalance! It seems to me that I have heard he did not treat his wifevery well.'
"Their eyes met."]
Mr. Van Torp had met several very cool characters in his interestingand profitable career, but he thought that if the man before him wasLeven himself, as he seemed to be, he beat them all for calmeffrontery.
'Were you ever told that you looked like him?' asked Mr. Van Torpcarelessly.
Even at this question Kralinsky showed no embarrassment.
'To tell the truth,' he replied, 'I remember that one or two in theregiment saw a slight resemblance, and we were of nearly the sameheight, I should say. But when I last saw Leven he did not wear abeard.'
At this point Lady Maud came in quietly and made directly for thevacant place. The two men rose as soon as she appeared, and she foundherself face to face with Kralinsky, with the table between them.Their eyes met, but Lady Maud could not detect the slightest look ofrecognition in his. Van Torp introduced him, and also watched his facenarrowly, but there was not the least change of expression, nor anyquick glance of surprise.
Yet Kralinsky possibly did not know that Lady Maud was on the yacht,for he had not been told previously that she was to be of the party,and in the short conversation which had preceded her appearance, noone had actually mentioned the fact. She herself had come to dinnerlate with the express purpose of presenting herself before himsuddenly, but she had to admit that the intended surprise did not takeplace.
She was not astonished, however, for she had more than once seen herhusband placed in very difficult situations, from which he hadgenerally extricated himself by his amazing power of concealing thetruth. Being seated nearly opposite to him, it was not easy to studyhis features without seeming either to stare at him rudely or to bebestowing more attention on him than on any of the others. Her eyeswere very good, and her memory for details was fair, and if she didnot look often at his face, she watched his hands and listened to theintonations of his voice, and her conviction that he was Leven grewduring dinner. Yet there was still a shadow of doubt, though she couldnot have told exactly where it lay.
She longed to lead him into a trap by asking some question to which,if he were Leven, he would know the answer, though not if he were anyone else, a question to which he would not hesitate to replyunsuspectingly if the answer were known to him. But Lady Maud was notingenious in such conversational tricks, and could not think ofanything that would do.
The outward difference of appearance between him and the man she hadmarried was so small that she could assuredly not have sworn inevidence that Kralinsky was not her husband. There was the beard, andshe had not seen Leven with a beard since the first months of hermarriage four years ago, when he had cut it off for some reason knownonly to himself. Of course a recollection, already four years old,could not be trusted like one that dated only as far back as threemonths; for he had left her not long before his supposed death.
There were the hands, and there was the left hand especially. Thatmight be the seat of the doubt. Possibly she had never noticed thatLeven had a way of keeping his left little finger almost constantlycrooked and turned inward as if it were lame. But she was not sureeven of that, for she was not one of those people who study the handsof every one they know, and can recognise them at a glance. She hadcertainly never watched her husband's as closely as she was watchingKralinsky's now.
Margaret was in the best of spirits, and talked more than usual, notstopping to think how Van Torp's mere presence would have chilled andsilenced her three or four months earlier. If Lady Maud had time tospare from her own affairs, it probably occurred to her that thePrimadonna's head was slightly turned by the devotion of a financierconsiderably bigger and more serious than Logotheti; but if she hadknown of the 'business agreement' between the two, she would havesmiled at Van Torp's wisdom in offering a woman who seemed to haveeverything just the one thing in the world which she desired and hadnot. Yet for all that, he might be far from his goal. It was possiblethat Margaret might look upon him as Lady Maud herself did, and wishto make him her best friend. Lady Maud would not be jealous if shesucceeded.
On the whole it was a gay dinner, and Mrs. Rushmore and Kralinsky knewthat it was a very good one, and told each other so afterwards as theywalked slowly up and down the great promenade deck in the starlight.For people who are very fond of good eating can chatter pleasantlyabout their food for hours, recalling the recent delights of a perfectchaud-froid or a faultless sauce; and it was soon evident that therewas nothing connected with such subjects which Kralinsky did notunderstand and appreciate, from a Chinese bird's-nest soup to therules of the great Marie-Antoine Careme and Brillat-Savarin'sPhysiology of Taste. Kralinsky also knew everybody. Between gastronomyand society, he appeared to Mrs. Rushmore to know everything there wasto be known.
Lady Maud caught snatches of the conversation as the two came nearher, and then turned back; and she remembered that Leven used to talkon the same subjects with elderly women on whom he wished to make apleasant impression. The voice was his to the very least intonation,and the walk was his, too, and yet she knew she had a doubt somewhere,a very small doubt, which it was a sort of slow torture to feel wasstill unsatisfied.
Mr. Van Torp sat between her and Lady Margaret, while the two otherswalked. The deep-cushioned straw chairs stood round a low fixed tableon which there had been coffee, and at Margaret's request the lighthad been put out, though it was only a small opalescent one, placedunder the awning abaft the wheel-house and bridge.
'We must be going very fast,' said Lady Maud, 'for the sea is flat asa millpond, and yet there's a gale as soon as one gets out of the leeof things.'
'She's doing twenty-two, I believe,' replied Van Torp, 'and she can dotwenty-three if pressed. She will, by and by, when she gets warmedup.'
'Where are we going?' Margaret asked. 'At this rate we are sure to getsomewhere!'
'I don't know where we're going, I'm sure.' The millionaire smiled inthe gloom. 'But as you say, it doesn't take more than five minutes toget somewhere in a ship like this.'
'You must have told the captain what you wanted him to do! You musthave given some orders!'
'Why, certainly. I told him to look around and see if he could findanother yacht anything like this, anywhere in the Mediterranean. Sohe's just looking around, like that, I suppose. And if he findsanother yacht anything like this, we'll see which of us can gofastest. You see I don't know anything about ships, or where to go, soI just thought of that way of passing the time, and when you're tiredof rushing about and want to go anywhere in particular, why, I'll takeyou there. If the weather cuts up we'll go in somewhere and wait, andsee things on shore. Will that do?'
Margaret laughed at the vagueness of such a roving commission, butLady Maud looked towards her friend in the starlight and tried to seehis expression, for she was sure that he had a settled plan in hismind, which he would probably put into execution.
'I've figured it out,' he continued presently. 'This thing will goover five hundred and twenty miles a day for eight days withoutstopping for coal, and that makes more than four thousand miles, and Icall that a pretty nice trip, don't you? Time to cool off before goingto Paris. Of course if I chose to take you to New York you couldn'tget out and walk. You'd have to go.'
'I've no idea of offering any resistance, I assure you!' saidMargaret. 'I'm too perfectly, completely, and unutterably comfor
tableon your yacht; and I don't suppose it will be any rougher than it waslast March when we crossed in the _Leofric_ together.'
'Seems a long time, doesn't it?' Van Torp's tone was thoughtful, butexpressed anything rather than regret. 'I prefer this trip, myself.'
'Oh, so do I, infinitely! You're so much nicer than you used to be, orthan I thought you were. Isn't he, Maud?'
'Far!' answered Lady Maud. 'I always told you so. Do you mind verymuch if I go to bed? I'm rather sleepy after the journey.' She rose.'Oh, I mustn't forget to tell you,' she added, speaking to Margaret,'I always lock my door at night, so don't be surprised! If you wantto come in and talk when you come down just call, or knock, and I'lllet you in directly.'
'All right,' Margaret answered.
Lady Maud disappeared below, leaving the two together, for Mrs.Rushmore and Kralinsky had found a pleasant sheltered place to sit,further aft, and the Count was explaining to the good American ladythe delicious Russian mysteries of 'Borshtsh,' 'Shtshi,' 'Kasha,' and'Smyetany,' after extolling the unapproachable flavour of freshsturgeon's roe, and explaining that 'caviare' is not at all theRussian name for it and is not even a Russian word; and Mrs. Rushmorelistened with intense interest and stood up for her country, on abasis of Blue Point oysters, planked shad, canvas-backs, and terrapindone in the Philadelphian manner, which she maintained to be vastlysuperior to the Baltimorian; and each listened to the other with realinterest.
Van Torp and Margaret had not been alone together for five minutessince they had left Bayreuth on the previous day, but instead oftalking, after Lady Maud was gone, the Primadonna began to sing verysoftly and beautifully, and not quite for herself only, for she wellknew what pleasure her voice gave her companion, and she was the moreready to sing because he had never asked her to do so. Moreover, itcost her nothing, in the warm evening air under the awning, and likeall great singers she loved the sound of her own voice. To be able todo almost anything supremely well, one must do it with real delight,and without the smallest effort which it is not a real pleasure tomake.
So Margaret leaned back comfortably in her cushioned chair, with herhead inclined a little forward, and the magic notes floated from herlips through the soft moving night; for as the yacht ran on throughthe calm sea at her great speed, it was as if she lay still and thenight itself were flying over her with muffled wings.
Margaret sang nothing grand nor very difficult; not the waltz-songthat had made her famous, nor the 'Good Friday' music which she couldnever sing to the world, but sweet old melodious songs she had learnedwhen a girl; Schubert's 'Serenade' and 'Ave Maria,' and Tosti's'Malia,' and then Beethoven's 'Adelaide'; and Van Torp was silent andperfectly happy, as well he might be. Moreover, Margaret was happytoo, which was really more surprising, considering how very angry shehad been with Logotheti for a whole week, and that she was quite awareof the manner in which he was passing his time in spite of her urgentmessage. But before the magnificent possibilities which the 'businessagreement' had suddenly opened to her, the probability of her againsending him any word, within a reasonable time, had diminishedgreatly, and the prospect of flying into a rage and telling him hermind when she saw him was not attractive. She had always felt hisinfluence over her more strongly when they had been together; and ithad always lost its power when he was away, till she asked herself whyshe should even think of marrying him. She would not be the firstwoman who had thought better of an engagement and had broken it forthe greater good of herself and her betrothed. In all probability shehad never been really and truly in love, though she had been verysincerely fond of Edmund Lushington the English writer, who haddiscovered rather late that the magnificent and successful Margaritada Cordova was not at all the same person as the 'nice English girl,'Margaret Donne, whom he had worshipped before she had gone upon thestage. So far as he was concerned, she had received his change of mindas a slight; as for Logotheti, she would never forgive him for nothaving remained faithful even during the few weeks since they hadcalled themselves engaged; but Van Torp's position as a suitor wasdifferent. At all events, she said to herself, he was a man; and hedid not offer her romantic affection, but power, and a future whichshould soon give her the first position in the musical world, if sheknew how to use it. She was accustomed to the idea of great wealth andof the ordinary things it could give; mere money impressed her no morethan it does most very successful artists, unless they are miserly andfond of it for its own sake, which is comparatively unusual. Shewasted most of what she earned, in a sort of half-secret luxury andextravagance which made little show but cost a great deal and gave herinfinite satisfaction. Even Lady Maud did not dream of the waste thatwas a pleasure to the Primadonna, and the meek Potts was as reticentas the fierce Justine was garrulous. It was a secret joy to Potts,besides being a large source of revenue, to live with a mistress whoflatly refused ever to wear a pair of silk stockings more than once,much less a pair of gloves. Mrs. Rushmore would have held up herelderly hands at such reckless doings. Margaret herself, trusting toher private fortune for her old age in case she never married, did asshe pleased with her money, and never thought of investing it; but nowand then, in moments of depression, it had occurred to her that whenshe left the stage, as she must some day, she would not be able tolive as she did now, and the thought vaguely disturbed her for a fewminutes, but that was all, and she had always within reach the easyremedy of marrying a millionaire, to whom such a sum as five hundredpounds a year for silk stockings would be an insignificant trifle; andwhile her voice lasted she could make more than that by giving oneconcert in Chicago, for instance, or by singing two nights in opera.
This is not a digression. The Diva cared nothing for money in itself,but she could use a vast amount of it with great satisfaction andquite without show or noise. Mr. Van Torp's income was probably twentyor thirty times as large as the most she could possibly use, and thatwas a considerable asset in his favour.
He was not a cultivated man, like Logotheti; he had never known a wordof Latin or Greek in his life, his acquaintance with history waslacunous--to borrow a convenient Latin word--and he knew very littleabout the lives of interesting people long dead. He had once read partof a translation of the _Iliad_ and had declared it to be nonsense.There never were such people, he had said, and if there had been,there was no reason for writing about them, which was a practicalview of the case, if not an aesthetic one. On the other hand, he wasoddly gifted in many ways and without realising it in the least. Forinstance, he possessed a remarkable musical ear and musical memory,which surprised and pleased even the Diva, whenever they showedthemselves. He could whistle her parts almost without a fault, andmuch more difficult music, too.
For everyday life he spoke like a Western farmer, and at first thishad been intensely disagreeable to the daughter of the scholarlyOxford classic; but she had grown used to it quickly since she hadbegun to like him, till his way of putting things even amused her; andmoreover, on that night by the gate of the field outside Bayreuth, shehad found out that he could speak well enough, when he chose, ingrave, strong words that few women could hear quite indifferently.Never, in all her acquaintance with Logotheti, had she heard from theGreek one phrase that carried such conviction of his purpose with it,as Van Torp's few simple words had done then.
Big natures are usually most drawn to those that are even bigger thanthemselves, either to love them, or to strive with them. It is theSecond-Rates who take kindly to the little people, and are happy inthe adulation of the small-fry.
So Margaret was drawn away from Logotheti, the clever spoilt child offortune, the loving, unproductive worshipper of his own Greek Muses,by the Crown-Grasper, the ruthless, uncultured hard-hitter, who hadcared first for power, and had got it unhelped, but who now desiredone woman, to the exclusion of all others, for his mate.
Vaguely, the Diva remembered how, when Van Torp had asked her to walkwith him on the deck of the _Leofric_ and she had at first refused andthen consented, Paul Griggs, looking on with a smile, had quoted anold French p
roverb: 'A fortress that parleys, and a woman who listens,will soon surrender.'
When she was silent after singing 'Adelaide,' association brought backthe saying of the veteran man of letters, for Van Torp asked her ifshe cared to walk a little on the quiet deck, where there was a lee;and the sea air and even the chairs recalled the rest, with a littlewonder, but no displeasure, nor self-contempt. Was she not her ownmistress? What had any one to say, if she chose to change her mind andtake the stronger man, supposing that she took either? Had Logothetiestablished any claim on her but that of constancy? Since that wasgone, here was a man who seemed to be as much more enduring than hisrival, as he was stronger in every other way. What were smallrefinements of speech and culture, compared with wide-reaching power?What availed it to possess in memory the passionate love-roses ofSappho's heart, if you would not follow her to the Leucadian cliff? Orto quote torrents of Pindar's deep-mouthed song, if you had not theconstancy to run one little race to the end without swerving aside?Logotheti's own words and epithets came back to Margaret, from many apleasant talk in the past, and she cared for them no longer. Full oflife himself, he lived half among the dead, and his waking was only adream of pleasure; but this rough-hewn American was more alive thanhe, and his dreams were of the living and came true.
When Margaret bid Van Torp good-night she pressed his hand, frankly,as she had never done before, but he took no sudden advantage of whathe felt in her touch, and he returned the pressure so discreetly thatshe was almost disappointed, though not quite, for there was just alittle something more than usual there.
She did not disturb Lady Maud, either, when she went to her cabin,though if she had known that her beautiful neighbour was wide awakeand restless, she would at least have said good-night, and asked herif she was still so very tired.
But Lady Maud slept, too, at last, though not very long, and was theonly one who appeared at breakfast to keep Van Torp company, forMargaret slept the sleep of a singer, which is deep and long as thatof the healthy dormouse, and Mrs. Rushmore had her first tea and toasthappily in her cheerful surroundings of pink and gilding. As forKralinsky, his man informed Stemp and the chief steward that the Countnever thought of getting up till between nine and ten o'clock, when hetook a cup of chocolate and a slice or two of sponge cake in his ownroom before dressing. So Lady Maud and Van Torp had the yacht tothemselves for some time that morning.
'I fancy from what you said last night that your plan is to catchLogotheti and the Tartar girl at sea,' said Lady Maud, when they werealone.
'I supposed you'd understand,' answered Van Torp. 'Do you see any harmin that? It occurred to me that it might be quite a drastic form ofdemonstration. How does it strike you? At all low-down?'
'No, frankly not!' Lady Maud was still incensed at Logotheti'sconduct. 'A man who does such things deserves anything that his rivalcan do to him. I hope you may overhaul the yacht, run alongside of herand show Margaret the two, making love to each other in Tartar ondeck! That's the least that ought to happen to him!'
'Thank you. I like to hear you talk like that. Captain Brown will dohis level best, I think. And now, tell me,' he lowered his voice alittle more, 'is that man Leven, or not?'
'I am sure he is,' Lady Maud answered, 'and yet I feel as if thereought to be a little doubt still. I don't know how to express it, forit's rather an odd sensation.'
'I should think it might be! Is there anything I can say or do? I'llask the man any question you suggest. I'm certain he's not old LeviLonglegs, and if he's not Leven, who on earth is he? That's what Ishould like to know.'
'I shall find out, never fear! I know I shall, because I must, if I amever to have any peace again. I'm not a very nervous person, you know,am I? But it's more than I can bear long, to sit opposite a man attable, again and again, as I shall have to, and not be sure whetherhe's my husband, come back from the dead, or some one else!' Shepaused, and her nostrils dilated a little, but Van Torp only noddedslowly and sympathetically. 'I mean to know before I go to bedto-night,' she said, with a little desperation in her voice. 'I shalltalk to him till I am sure of one thing or the other. At table, Icannot tell, but if we are alone together I know I can settle thequestion. If you see that we are talking at the other end of the deck,try to keep Mrs. Rushmore and Margaret from coming near us. Will you?'
To Mrs. Rushmore's amazement and Margaret's surprise, Lady Maud made adead set at Kralinsky all that day, an attention which he seemed toappreciate as it deserved. Before breakfast was over, Van Torp hadrepeated to her what Kralinsky had said about having formerly beenintimate with Leven, and Lady Maud took this statement as a basis ofoperations for finding out just how much he knew of her own life; shejudged that if he were not Leven himself, he must soon betray the factby his ignorance.
That was the strangest day she had ever passed. She found it very easyto talk with Kralinsky, as it always is when there has been longfamiliarity, even if it has been only the familiar intercourse ofdomestic discord. He knew many details of her life in London. That wasclear after half an hour's conversation. She alluded to the idle talkthere had been about her and Van Torp; Kralinsky knew all about thatand had heard, as he said, some silly story about Leven having foundher with the American in certain rooms in the Temple, and about anenvelope which was said to have contained over four thousand and onehundred pounds in bank-notes. He politely scouted the story asnonsense, but he had heard it, and Lady Maud knew that every word ofit was true. He knew of Leven's unsuccessful attempt to divorce her onthat ground, too, and he knew the number of her house in CharlesStreet, Berkeley Square.
On the other hand, there were many things of which he knew nothing, orpretended to be ignorant, such as the names of her brothers andsisters, her father's favourite pursuits and the like. But sheunderstood very well that if he thought she suspected his identityunder the disguise of his beard, and if he wished to avoidrecognition, he was just the man to pretend blank ignorance of somevital matters, after admitting his acquaintance with many others. Hehad been very intimate with Leven, to the last, he said; Leven hadalways written to him very fully about his life, very wittilysometimes, but always without balance! That was it; he had no'balance.' Yes, he himself had been in Petersburg when Leven waskilled and had seen him on the previous day. Within a week he had madea rapid trip to New York, whence he had now just returned. He hadcrossed on five-day boats both going and coming, and he named them.
'I am naturally interested in meeting any one who knew my husband sowell,' Lady Maud said, making a bold dash at a possibility. 'We hadmany differences, as you seem to know, but I daresay that if he couldcome back to life and know the real truth, we should forgive eachother.'
She looked up to him with a gentle smile as she said this, for she hadoften felt it; and in that instant a flash of light came into hisusually rather uncertain eyes. Her heart stood still; she looked atthe sea again directly, for she was leaning against the rail; then shedrew breath, as if from an effort. She had seen a look that could onlymean recognition. Leven was alive and was standing beside her. But shehad the courage to go on talking, after a moment, and she tried tochange the subject, though not very adroitly.
During the afternoon Mr. Van Torp had a revelation, sudden and clear,for he had watched Lady Maud and Kralinsky all day and had thoughtabout them a good deal, considering how his mind was occupied withother matters even nearer to his heart than his best friend's welfare.As soon as the revelation came upon him he rang for his own man.
Stemp, see here!' he began. 'You've valeted around with all sorts ofdifferent-looking men. How long does it take to grow a beard likeCount Kralinsky's?'
'A year, sir. Not a day less, and longer with most gentlemen. If youwere thinking of it, sir----'
'You don't believe it could be managed in three months, by taking anexpert around with you to work on your face?'
'That's out of the question, sir. Gentlemen's beards that have shavedall their lives, as I suppose you have, sir, do grow faster, but Ishould consider a year a short t
ime for such a fine one as theCount's. Indeed I should, sir.'
'Do you suppose you could stick it on fresh every day, the way they dofor the stage?'
'Not so that it wouldn't show in broad daylight, sir.'
'Well, that's all. I wasn't exactly thinking of trying a beard. I wasonly thinking--just like that. What I rang for was a cap. Got any morelike this? You see I've managed to get a spot of ink on this one. Hadit on the table when I was writing, I suppose. That's the worst ofwhite caps, they spot so.'
A little later, Mr. Van Torp was looking out for a chance to speakalone with Lady Maud, and as soon as he found his opportunity, he toldher what Stemp had said. Strangely enough, it had never occurred tohim that such a remarkable beard as Kralinsky's must have taken a longtime to grow, and that Leven, who had none, had not left London morethan three months ago. He watched the effect of this statement on hisfriend's face, but to his surprise she remained grave and sad.
'I cannot help it,' she said in a tone of conviction. 'He must beLeven, whatever Stemp tells you about his beard.'
'Well, then it's a false beard, and will come off,' observed Mr. VanTorp, with at least equal gravity. 'Stemp says that's impossible, buthe must be wrong, unless you are.'
'It's real,' Lady Maud said, 'and he is my husband. I've talked to himall day, and he knows things about my life that no one else could,and if there are others about which he is vague, that must be becausehe is pretending, and does not want to show that he knows everything.'
Van Torp shook his head, but remained unconvinced; Lady Maud did notchange her mind either, and was already debating with herself as towhether it would not be really wiser to speak out and tell Kralinskythat she had recognised him under his transparent disguise. She feltthat she must know the worst, if she was ever to rest again.
Neither Margaret nor Mrs. Rushmore had ever seen Leven, and they hadnot the least idea of what was really going on under their eyes. Theyonly saw that Lady Maud was making a dead set at the Count, and ifMargaret wondered whether she had misjudged her friend's character,the elder lady had no doubt as to what was happening.
'My dear child,' she said to Margaret, 'your friend is going toconsole herself. Widows of that age generally do, my dear. I myselfcould never understand how one could marry again. I should always feelthat dear Mr. Rushmore was in the room. It quite makes me blush tothink of it! Yet it is an undeniable fact that many young widows marryagain. Mark my words, Margaret, your friend is going to consoleherself before long. If it is not this one, it will be another. Mydear, I am quite positive about it.'
When the sun went down that evening the yacht had passed Otranto andthe Cape, and her course had been changed, to head her for CapeSpartivento and the Straits of Messina, having done in twenty-fourhours as much as the little Italian mail-steamers do in forty-eight,and nearly half as much again as the _Erinna_ could have done at herhighest speed. As Mr. Van Torp had predicted, his engines had 'warmedup,' and were beating their own record. The gale made by the vessel'sway was stronger than a woman could stand in with any regard to herappearance, but as the weather continued to be calm it was fromdead-ahead, and there was plenty of shelter on the promenade deckabaft the wheel-house, on condition of not going too near the rail.
After dinner Kralinsky and Mrs. Rushmore walked a little, as on theprevious evening, and Lady Maud sat with Margaret and Van Torp. Butbefore the two walkers went off to sit down in the quiet corner theyhad found yesterday, Lady Maud rose, went half-way aft, anddeliberately placed herself where they were obliged to pass close toher at each turn, standing and leaning against the bright white sideof the engine skylight, which was as high as the wheel-house itself,and broke in aft, where the big ventilating fans were situated, makinga square corner inward.
She stood there, and as it was not very dark in the clear starlight,Kralinsky saw in passing that she followed his face with her eyes,turning her head to look at him when he was coming towards her, andturning it very slowly back again as he came near and went by. It wasimpossible to convey more clearly an invitation to get rid of hiscompanion and join her, and he was the last man in the world tomisunderstand it.
But Mrs. Rushmore saw it too, and as she considered him a lion, andtherefore entitled to have his own way, she made it easy for him.
'My dear Count,' she said blandly, after passing Lady Maud twice, 'Ihave really had enough now, and if you will promise to finish yourwalk alone, I think I will go and sit with the others.'
He left her with Margaret and Van Torp and went back to Lady Maud, whomoved as he came up to her, made two steps beside him, and thensuddenly slipped into the recess where the fan-house joined the engineskylight. She stood still, and he instantly ranged himself beside her.They were quite out of sight of the others, and of the bridge, andeven if it had been daylight they could not have been seen except bysome one coming from aft.
'I want to speak to you,' she said, in a low, steady voice. 'Pleaselisten quite quietly, for some of them may begin to walk again.'
Kralinsky bent his head twice, and then inclined it towards her, tohear better what she was going to say.
'It has pleased you to keep up this comedy for twenty-four hours,' shebegan.
He made a slight movement, which was natural under the circumstances.
'I do not understand,' he said, in his oily voice. 'What comedy? Ireally have no----'
'Don't go on,' she answered, interrupting him sharply. 'Listen towhat I am going to tell you, and then decide what you will do. I don'tthink your decision will make very much difference to me, but it willmake a difference to the world and to yourself. I saw you from awindow when you brought Mr. Van Torp to the hotel in Bayreuth, and Irecognised you at once. Since this afternoon I have no doubt left.'
'I never saw you till last night,' said Kralinsky, with some littlesurprise in his tone, and with perfect assurance.
'Do you really think you can deceive me any longer?' she asked. 'Itold you this afternoon that if you could come back from the dead, andknow the whole truth, we should probably forgive each other, though wehad many differences. Shall we?' She paused a moment, and by his quickchange of position she saw that he was much moved. 'I don't mean thatwe should ever go back to the old life, for we were not suited to eachother from the first, you and I. You wanted to marry me because I waspretty and smart, and I married you because I wanted to be married,and you were better-looking than most men, and seemed to have what Ithought was necessary--fortune and a decent position. No, don'tinterrupt me. We soon found out that we did not care for each other.You went your way, and I went mine. I don't mean to reproach you, forwhen I saw you were beginning to be tired of me I did nothing to keepyou. I myself was tired of it already. But whatever you may havethought, I was a faithful wife. Mr. Van Torp had given me a great dealof money for my charity, and does still. I can account for it. Inever used a penny of it for myself, and never shall; and he neverwas, and never will be, any more than a trusted friend. I don't knowwhy you chose to disappear when the man who had your pocket-book waskilled and you were said to be dead. It's not my business, and if youchoose to go on living under another name, now that you are richagain, I shall not betray you, and few people will recognise you, atleast in England, so long as you wear that beard. But you had it whenwe were married, and I knew you at once, and when I heard you were tobe of the party here, I made up my mind at once that I would acceptthe invitation and come too, and speak to you as I'm speaking now.When I believed you were dead I forgave you everything, though I wasglad you were gone; frankly, I did not wish you alive again, but sinceyou are, God forbid that I should wish you dead. You owe me two thingsin exchange for my forgiveness: first, yours, if I treated youungenerously or unkindly; and, secondly, you ought to take back everyword you ever said to me about Mr. Van Torp, for there was not ashadow of truth in what you thought. Will you do that? I ask nothingelse.'
'Indeed I will, my dear Maud,' said Count Kralinsky, in a voice fullof emotion.
Lady Maud drew a long breath, tha
t trembled a little as it left herheated lips again. She had done what she believed most firmly to beright, and it had not been easy. She had not been surprised by hispatient silence while she had been talking; for she had felt that itwas hers to speak and his to listen.
'Thank you,' she said now. 'I shall never go back to what I have said,and neither of us need ever allude to old times again during thistrip. It will not last long, for I shall probably go home by land fromthe first port we touch, and it is not likely that we shall ever meetagain. If we do, I shall behave as if you were Count Kralinsky whom Ihave met abroad, neither more nor less. I suppose you will haveconscience enough not to marry. Perhaps, if I thought another woman'shappiness depended on it, I would consent to divorce you, but youshall never divorce me.'
'No power could make me wish to,' Kralinsky answered, still deeplymoved. 'I was mad in those days, Maud; I was beside myself, between mydebts and my entanglements with women not fit to touch your shoes.I've seen it all since. That is the chief reason why I chose todisappear from society when I had the chance, and become some oneelse! I swear to you, on my mother's soul in heaven, that I thought ofnothing but that--to set you free and begin life over again as anotherman. No thought of marrying has ever crossed my mind! Do you think Icould be as bad as that? But I'm not defending myself--how could I?All the right is on your side, and all the wrong on mine. And now--Iwould give heaven and earth to undo it all and to come back to you!'
Lady Maud drew as far as she could into the corner where the fan-housejoined the engine skylight. She had not expected this; it was toomuch repentance; it was too like a real attempt to win her again. Hehad not seen her for more than three months; she knew she was verybeautiful; his fleeting passion had come to life again, as he had. Buther old repulsion for him was ten times stronger than when they hadparted, and she shrank back as far as she could, without speaking.From far below the noiseless engines sent a quick vibration up to theironwork of the skylight. She felt it, but could hardly tell it fromthe beatings of her own heart. He saw her shrinking from him and waswise.
'Don't be afraid of me!' he cried, in a low and pleading tone. 'Notthat! Oh, please not that! I will not come nearer; I will not put outmy hand to touch yours, I swear it to you! But I love you as I neverloved you before; I never knew how beautiful you were till I had lostyou, and now that I have found you again you are a thousand times morebeautiful than in my dreams! No, I ask nothing! I have no right to askfor what I have thrown away! You do not even pity me, I think! Whyshould you? You were free when you thought me dead, and I have comeback to be a burden and a weight on your life. Forgive me, forgive me,my lost darling, for the sake of all that might have been, but don'tfear me! Pity me, if you can, but don't be afraid of me! Say that youpity me a little, and I shall be satisfied, and grateful too!'
Lady Maud was silent for a few seconds, while he stood turned towardsher, his hands clasped in a dramatic gesture, as if still imploringher commiseration.
'I do pity you,' she said at last, quite steadily, for just then shedid not fear that he would try to touch even her hand. 'I pity you, ifyou are really in love with me again. I pity you still more if this isa passing thing that has taken hold of you merely because you stillthink me handsome. But I will never take you back to be my husbandagain. Never. That is finished, for good and all.'
'Ah, Maud, listen to me----'
But she had already slipped out of the corner and was walking slowlyaway from him, not towards the others, but aft, so that he might joinher quietly before going back to them. He was a man of the world andunderstood her, and did what was expected of him. Almost as soon as hewas beside her, she turned to go forward with her leisurely, carelessgrace.
'We've been standing a long time,' said she, as if the conversationhad been about the weather. 'I want to sit down.'
'I am in earnest,' he said, very low.
'So am I,' answered Lady Maud.
They went on towards the wheel-house side by side, without haste, andnot very near together, like two ordinary acquaintances.
The Diva's Ruby Page 13
